The Handbook of Horticulture and Viticulture of Western Australia; by A. Despeissis (1903)

2. Rir.. DEFT,

7. ^k
1903.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
T HI IE
.,-p
b
*
OF
Horticulture and Viticulture
OF
WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
BY A, DESPEISSIS, M.R.A.C.
2ND EDITION.
PEETH :
BY AUTHORITY : WM. ALFRED WATSON, GOVERNMENT PRINTER.
1903.
^^^^^^^^> '^'^^

9. PREFACE
To First Edition.
As it is a physical impossibility for the Yiticnltural and
Horticultural Expert of the Bureau to be in all places at all times,
;and as the demands for Mr. Despeissis' advice have been so great,
the Bureau of Agriculture considered it advisable to have Mr.
Despeissis' views on cultural matters embodied in book form.
Before commencing the HANDBOOK OF HORTICULTURE AND VITI-
CULTUEE OP WESTERN AUSTRALIA, which is now presented to the
reader, Mr. Despeissis visited all the districts in the South- Western
Land Division of the Colony, so "he knows whereof he speaks."
Neither the Bureau of Agriculture nor Mr. Despeissis have spared
pains or expense to make the Handbook as complete as the some-
what limited time at the authors' disposal would permit. It was
hoped that the HANDBOOK would have been issued before the
present planting season, but the work insensibly outgrew its
originally prescribed limits. The HANDBOOK has been written as
much for the new-comer as those already settled upon the soil, and
for this reason chapters on the preliminary preparation of the land
have been included. Errors, almost inseparable from the some-
what hurried preparation of a book requiring a vast amount of
thought and research, may be discovered in these pages, but it is to
be hoped they will be immeasurably counterbalanced by the mass
of valuable information the HANDBOOK contains. In conclusion,
the Bureau of Agriculture would take this opportunity of acknow-
ledging the kind assistance received from the Hon. the Minister of
Agriculture of New South Wales, the proprietors of the " Austra-
lian Agriculturist," Messrs. Sandover & Co., and others, in lending
many of the blocks which illustrate this volume.
L. LINDLEY COWEN,
Secretary Bureau of Agriculture
of Western Australia.
Perth, 12th July, 1895.
270426

10. PREFACE
To the Second Edition.
To W. PATERSON, Esq., the Director Department of Agriculture
of Western Australia.
For several years past, the demand for the HANDBOOK OF
HORTICULTURE AND VITICULTURE OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA has
been so persistent that a second edition of the work, long] since]out
of print, had to be taken in hand.
In this volume much of what appeared in the first one] "is
reproduced, but to such an extent has the work been re- handled
that it is only in name that it may be said to be related to the
HANDBOOK issued by the direction of the Bureau of Agriculture.
Owing to the pressure of work on the eve of my leaving
Western Australia for a visit to the vinegrowing districts of
Algeria, Spain, Portugal, and the South of France, I have delegated
to one better qualified than myself the care of preparing the
chapters dealing with the description of the more common insect
pests of our orchards, and of those beneficial insects which do duty
as natural checks to these pests and in the hands of our
;
entomologist, Mr. G-. Compere, the subject will be dealt with
authoritatively.
To Mr. Lindley Cowen, the late Secretary of this Department,
the idea of bringing out this book belongs, and I have endeavoured
to carry out as best I could the plan he had thought out. .
I have also to acknowledge the valuable assistance
given to
me in bringing thisbook out by Mr. G-. Chitty Baker, the editor of
the Journal of this Department.
In collating the mass of information which will be found
grouped within the several chapters of this HANDBOOK I have, as
far as possible,
acknowledged the sources whence that information
was derived and the value of those sources,
;
together with the
personal experience I have been able to gain in questions dealt
with in the following pages, will, I
hope, be of some benefit to
thosewho may consult this book.
A. DESPEISSIS, M.R.A.C.
Department of Agriculture,
Perth, W.A., 30th June, 1903.

11. CONTENTS.
PAGE
Introductory
West Australia as a Fruit Land 5
Our Soils 15
Bingbar king and Clearing Land 22
Preparing Land for Planting 35
Drainage ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 40
Shelter 45
Fencing ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 51
Laying out the Ground ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 56
Planting 63
Grafting .' ... 86
Budding "... 106
Pruning ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 114
Vine Pruning 119
Summer Pruning ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 169
Irrigation and Eoot Management ... ... ... ... ... 193
What Fruit to Grow 204
Small Fruits 285
Tropical Fruits 303
Fruit Drying 316
Drying Vegetables ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 326
Fruit Candying 327
Canning and Fruit Pulp 331
Pulping Fruit 335
Gathering and Marketing Fruit ... ... ... ... ... 337
Rules for Exhibitions and Judging 358
The Oversea Fruit Trade ... 365
Wine Making ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 374
Unfermented Grape Juice 470
Infertile Grape Vines 475
Insect and Fungoid Pests... ... ... ... ... ... ... 480
Garden and Orchard Crops, their pests and remedies 485
Plant Fumigation ... ... ... ... ... ... 501
Fungus Diseases ... ... ... ... ... 506
Description of Insects, injurious and beneficial ... 532

13. THE HANDBOOK
OF
HORTICULTURE AND VITICULTURE
or
WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
BY A. DESPEISSIS, M.E.A.C.
HE awakening of Western Australia as a fruit-producing
State dates only from the beginning of the past decade.
It is concurrent with the development of the wonderful
gold belt which has since been proved to run through it, from the
Great Australian Bight, in the South, to Cambridge Gulf and the
tropical Kimberleys, in the North.
Previous to that epoch, sufficient had been achieved by the
older colonists to show that Western Australia could produce vines
and fruit of great excellence, but the gardens of the State were few
in number and far apart. Yet, fruit was then more easily procur-
able than it has since been, and the requirements of the 50,000 odd
consumers were liberally satisfied indeed, fruit was then so cheap
;
that no market value was attached to it. It was mostly consumed
on the spot, and the surplus rotted under the trees, and was not
worth carting away. In those days consumers were producers
themselves ;long distances and lack of rapid communication mili-
tated against the marketing of fruit, and methods of picking and
packing for distant markets were not familiar to fruit-growers, nor
had they any experience regarding varieties which, better than
others, lend themselves to long keeping and travelling.
With the discovery of gold came the rush of gold-seekers. The
constant stream of population which then set in soon taxed the
resources of the farming districts supplies of all sorts were soon
;
exhausted, and all the commodities of life had to be largely
imported. The ever-increasing flow of population continued its
course to the inland goldfields.
Every new coiner proved a consumer. Even the settlers
deserted their farms and rushed to the arid interior in quest of gold.
Famine prices were offered and given for all products of the soil.
Then a new current set in, and whilst the main stream of population

14. rontiin-.-i to pdti^ntQ%e,Goolgardie and the Murchison goldfields,
a smaller stream spread over the moister coastal districts. Gold
was to be won from the ploughed fields as well as from the quartz
reefs.
A great many may claim, to have first discovered that Western
Australia was teeming with gold, but the pride of having discovered
that the State was teeming with latent horticultural and agricultural
wealth must belong to the proprietors of the West Australian news-
paper. At their instigation, the late Mr. L. Linclley-Cowen set out
on a vovage of discovery through the agricultural districts of what is
known 'as the South- West Division of Western Australia a pro-
vince covering an area of country 350 miles from North to South
by 100 to 200 miles from West to East. From every point of that
territory which he visited Mr. Cowen, in a series of articles which
at the time attracted attention, as well as enlightened the settlers,
old and new, described the achievements of the pioneer agriculturists
of the country, and prognosticated the era of wonderful development
which every branch of agriculture has since entered upon.
That Western Australia bids fair to eclipse the other States of
the group as a fruit-producing territory is firmly believed by all who
have paid any attention to the circumstances which favour or retard
fruit-growing as an industry. Its soil is virgin, and for ages without
number has supported gum trees and shrubs of various sorts
without a rest, and been fouled by their residues, until at last it
welcomes fruit trees with the same eagerness as does a corn-sick
field some other crop in the course of the rotation.
Its climate is consistent and not capricious. When going
beyond well-defined and moist zones for the purpose of starting
fruit-growing, the settler has himself to blame for courting failure ;
his crops not periodically threatened by destruction from hail-
a/re
storms, such as are at times heard of in other parts of Australia.
Untrammelled by errors which, in the Eastern States, have
defeated the aims of the earlier fruit-growers, and
proved a source
of loss to them, Western Australian
growers start with the
experience of others, and are reaping the fruit of the knowledge
dearly bought. Thus they are able, with comparatively few faults,
to start a clear course on
embarking into fruit-growing on
commercial lines.
This State besides possesses, amongst all Australian States
the incalculable advantage of
being from 1,200 to 2,000 miles
nearer the European markets or, in other words, its
;
perishable fruit
crops, owing to its geographical position, are produced from four
to eight days nearer the consumer's table.
Another advantage of no mean
importance is that the popula-
tion of Western Australia very small until the
discovery of gold
-has since been increasing and as the mineral and
steadily rapidly,
agricultural resources of the country are being Such
developed.
indeed are the demands of the local market that a
ready sale, at a
profitable price, is obtained for all fruit of good
quality and, whilst
;

15. preparing for extensive fruit export, the grower is enabled to dispose
locally at highly remunerative prices of small parcels of fruit he may
gather from his young trees.
WEST AUSTRALIAN FRUIT LAND.
From Cambridge G-ulf, in the tropical North, to the Great
Australian Bight, in the temperate Southern regions, Western
Australia unfolds a coast line of over 1,200 miles capable of growing,
according to latitude, some sort of fruit or other.
Under the regulating influence of the monsoons, the rainy
season follows the dry one with almost clockwork precision ;
and
thus, within the coastal zone, the grower knows what to expect,
nor is he confronted either by a sweeping deluge or a prolonged
drought.
Farther inland great waterless tracts of fertile land occur, which,
with the spread of settlement, disclose favoured spots without
number where artificial irrigation is rendered possible, and where
fruit-growing offers great possibilities.
In this handbook no reference will be made to that part of
Western Australia extending from the Kimberley districts on the
North to the latitude of the Murchison River 28 S.
That vast stretch of country is for me unknown territory, and,
until an opportunity is offered me of getting acquainted with its
natural features, I feel loth to pass judgment as regards its capabil-
ities for growing fruit. Few settlers, hitherto, in that vast stretch of
country, until recently given almost entirely over to pastoralists,
have paid systematic attention to horticulture. The cause is
easy to discover. Few, if any one, of those who in the past
have lived at the Nor'-West and the North of this State have had
any idea of permanently settling down. WhiJst there their whole
attention has been engaged in more or less nomadic occupations ;
the small cultivated patch has proved sufficient to supply the
requirements of the household, and no inducement had until now
offered to plant largely, owing to the lack of frequent and quick means
of communication with the markets of the South. Sufficient is, how-
ever, known to state that at several places where facilities offer for
irrigation, or where the soil is naturally moist, the cultivation of
tropical plants and fruit trees has been atte tided with such success
as points to great possibilities in that direction.
Oneof the most successful undertakings of that nature is that
of the Trappists' Mission at Beagle Bay, about 21deg. lat. S.,
where some 10 acres have been planted, chiefly with bananas, man-
goes, guava, figs, tamarind, date palm, cocoanut trees, oranges, and
lemons, which all thrive well.
In a report on the capabilities of the East Kimberley district,
Mr. R. Helms, the biologist of the Bureau of Agriculture, said :
"
The
greatest prosperity of the country will begin when the
cultivation of specially tropical products is taken up in earnest.

16. itwill then be that the country becomes populated, for a couple of
iimdred acres, well tilled and planted with suitable crops, enables a
nan to acquire an independency. The country possesses not onlv
he rare advantage of being perfectly healthy, but the land best
uited for the growth of tropical products is free from timber. It,
herefore, requires no coloured labour to produce cotton, sugar,
of com-
ocoa, tobacco, rubber, or fibre, and other profitable articles
ierce. Europeans can do the work, and no great capital is required
o prepare, the land, the grubbing of trees in a tropical forest being
can be carried out at
Iways a great expense. Moreover, irrigation
minimum of expense. In a number of places it will be found that
rater can be conserved in such a way as to enable large areas to be
Catered by gravitation but where that method is impracticable,
;
indmills may effectively be employed, as a steady breeze generally
lows throughout the day."
The districts that will be more particularly considered in this
andbook are those comprised between the Murchisoii Eiver, 50
liles North of Champion Bay, lat. 28deg. S., to King George's
ound, lat. 35deg. S., and an imaginary line enclosing a somewhat
"iangular-shaped territory, about 50 miles broad at the Murchisoii
ad to 300 miles at its base, from the Leeuwin to Esperance.
Such area is shown on the maps issued by the Lands Depart-
tent of Western Australia as the South- West Division.
That a great extent of the country is admirably suited for vine
ad fruit growing is abundantly demonstrated by the success which
as accompanied the numerous attempts made in that direction by
jttlers in the various districts of the State.
variety of climatic conditions and soil make it possible to
The
row in this division of Western Australia almost any fruit of the
>ol-temperate as well as semi-tropical climates, and for the purpose
guiding the choice of intending settlers and growers, as well as
'
Lose already established on the land, in selecting the sorts of fruit
plant, the areas susceptible of growing profitably fruit and vines
e sub-divided into zones or fruit-growing districts.
The boundaries of these zones must, by reason of the great
inability in the configuration of the country, be only approximate,
id not regarded in the light of a definite line, on one side of which
'me varieties of trees could be grown with profit which would
irish if planted the other side.
Wherever possible, permanent watercourses or ranges of hills
ive been selected as the boundaries of the several
fruit-growing
stricts, which, in order to prevent confusion and
complication,
ive been restricted to four, viz. :
1. The "Northern Coastal Division, including the lower Mur-
tison, Champion Bay, the G-reenough flats, down to the Moore
iver.
2. The Eastern Division, comprising the Victoria Plains,-
von Valley, and the agricultural
country through which runs the
reat Southern Railway.

17. 7
3. The Central Coastal Division, extending from Gringin, an
including the Swan to the Collie River.
4. The Blackwood and adjoining districts Eastward to Albar
and Esperance.
A better understanding of the requirements which underlie tl
pursuit of modern fruit-growing one of the most interesting an
profitable branches of agronomy brings out several features in ib
West Australian climate, which point to the particular suitabilit
of this country for fruit-growing.
For the purpose of illustrating this statement, no more coi
vincing means offer than comparing the climate of the South- Wes
Division of this State with the climate of some of the most note
fruit districts of the world, and especially California, in 1st, ten
perature ; 2nd, light 3rd, air humidity
;
which are all climat:
;
conditions, absolutely necessary to fruit ripening. According 8
these three conditions are met with in a more or less suitable degn
the fruits ripen with greater or less perfection.
TEMPERATURE.
When compared with the chief fruit-growing districts of Cal
fornia, the West Australian
climate shows to advantage, its elm
characteristics being 1st, freedom from extremes of low and hig
temperature 2nd, an abundance of sunshine 3rd, summer atmos
; ;
phere, with a low percentage of humidity.
The following table, which gives the lowest thermometric reac
ings during a period of five years, at six places which can well sen
as land marks in dealing with the fruit-growing districts of th:
State, compares favourably with some Calif ornian stations whei
fruits of the citrus tribe, for instance, are known to attain to gres
perfection :
I
Geraldton
Perth
Bunbury ...
Albany . . .
York
Katanning

18. 8
The same botanist who laid down the above rule (Boussin-
ilt) determined that, in the case of the grape vine, while a mean
59deg. Fahr. during the growing months will allow the plant
to
irish, a much higher mean temperature is necessary during the
nmer and autumn months from the time the seeds are formed
:ilfull maturity, to bring the fruit to perfection, and there must
a month the mean temperature of which should not fall below
2deg. Fahr.
The following table gives the average summer temperature
'ing the growing months at various Western Australian and Cali-
nian points :
Deg. Fahr.
. 75-5
. 72-9
. 70-5
. 67-3
. 77-2
. 72-1

19. 9
while Bunbury, which comes next as regards a low mean sum
temperature, as given in the above tables, is reported to have dui
the growing months an almost continuous succession of brii
cloudless days, which are conducive to sugar production. Thr
is seen that, although the temperature in the district aro
Bunbury is fairly cool in the summer months, yet the great pi
ness of the atmosphere is favourable to the perfect maturaticw
grapes, as the plant profits during those months by its full shar
the chemical effect of the direct rays of the sun.
Viewed in the light of practical fruit-growing, abundanc
cloudless days in connection with high and protracted heat, res
in high sugar production, which is of great advantage in
production of raisin and prune, and also in the successful riper
of a second crop of grapes in a season.
It is thus shown why wine, for instance, made from grj
produced from cuttings of the same varieties, and perhaps obtai
from the same parent vine, but grown in a hot and clear dist
in the one instance, and on the other hand in a cooler locality, i
perhaps an atmosphere not quite so bright and clear, will presen
the palate and to laboratory tests quite different characteris
If, for instance, we take Malbec or Cabernet as an example, 1
will produce a rounder and stronger wine in the first district, ar
wine of a lighter character and more of the claret type in the co
localities ; for, in the process of wine-making, sugar means alcol
strength.
In order to continue the parallel between Western Austra
and Californian climates, and also the climate of other State:
America, the following table is given to compare the relative de
of sunshine at various places mentioned below.
In this table cloudiness is rated from to 10 ;
two observat
are taken daily at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Geraldton . 2-7
Lawlers ... . 3-1
Kalgoorlie . 3-4
York . 3-0
Perth ... . 4'4
Bunbury . 5-5
Katanning . 5-2
Albany ... . 5-0

20. 10
The o'idium of the vine, for instance, is much more troublesome
noist than in dry seasons and, for the same reason, in the moist
;
districts close to the sea, than in districts situated further inland,
3re the atmosphere is drier.
For another reason is dry air of value to the fruit-grower. It
9urs the better penetration through the atmosphere of heat and
it, and their access to the plant. The effect of the chemical
s of the sun, which, although not appealing to our senses in the
le measure as its thermal rays, are nevertheless essential in
iging about the perfect ripening of fruit. Now, a layer of vapour-
en atmosphere floating over the earth acts as a screen, which,
lough pervious to the heat rays, shuts off in a great measure
chemical rays of the sun. A practical illustration of this fact
.
been noticed by everyone. However hot the season, fruit will
3n slowly and rot on the plant if the atmosphere is dull, moist,
L
muggy whereas in a dry and bright autumn, fruit will be
;
respondingly luscious and richly flavoured, and will put on the
?htest of those tints of colour by which each variety is differ-
iated from the other.
Mean Monthly Relative Air Humidity August to April- ind Mean
Annual. (Saturation = 100.)

21. 11
" "
Practically, there are only two seasons, the dry and
"
wet." Both are influenced by monsoonal action. In the Nort'
part the wet season sets in during the summer months, commen
in December and lasting till March or April. During that
"
smart cyclones, locally called "willy-willies and "cock-eyed bobs
times sweep over the land, causing occasionally damage to stock
property. In the South, the wet season sets in after Ea
generally May, lasts through the winter and ends in October,
a few occasional showers during the summer months. During t
winter months the weather is made up of heavy showers and c
sunny intervals. In the South- Western corner the moisture-h
clouds which are carried on one side over the Southern Ocean,
the other over the Indian Ocean, impinge over the rangt
mountains which rise a few miles from the coast line, and i
parallel with it for a distance of over 300 miles, and there diss
into heavy rain. Once blown over these ranges, farther to
eastward, they meet with no obstruction to bring about t
precipitation, and thus are carried away into the vast unset
interior, where the farther from the coast the drier is the cliniat
The following table gives the average rainfall in Wes
Australia at points located in the several divisions of the State
Locality.

22. 12
Locality.

23. 13
inland districts, are often too highly mineralised to be of any use for
the purpose of watering plants.
Soaks abound over the country, and almost invariably follow
on the process of clearing land of trees previous to cultivating ;
wherein their presence is made manifest on the surface by the look
of the green patches during the dry months, when all vegetation
looks brown and languishing around there water may be obtained
;
by shallow excavation. Indeed, in the Eastern districts, some 100
miles or more from the coast, soaks constitute the chief source of
water supply.
In those drier districts, strewed over the surface of the country,
occur bold, bare outcrops of cap slab granite, from 10 to 100 feet in
height, covering from 10 to 60 or 80 acres. These outcrops rise from
sandy and loamy flats. They seem to have been provided by Nature
for the conservation of water in that arid region. After even the
lightest rainfall they shed water like a house-roof; whilst and
almost invariably, somewhere at the foot of those denuded rocks,
fresh water soaks occur in natural dams or basins filled with sand,
which, when cleaned, supply for stock or for trees an abundant
supply of fresh water.
Nowhere in the South- West Division of Western Australia
need fruit-growing be checked by dearth of water, as, apart from
natural sources of supply, any amount commensurate with the
requirements of the orchardist can, at small cost and with little
trouble, be impounded in tanks and dams excavated by means of a
plough and an earth scoop.
But, apart from the source of visible water, attempts made of late
years to obtain fresh water by artesian boring have proved eminently
successful. The first bore put down was in 1894, at Midland
Junction, when, by means of a hand plant, an abundant supply was
struck at a depth of 500ft., and the bore now discharges through a
4in. lining 260,000 gallons of water per day.
Since then bores have been put down along the
many more
from the Greenough Plains to the Preston River.
coastal plateau
Brackish and mineralised water has been struck in two or three
instances, but, as a rule, pure, fresh artesian water, suitable for
all domestic purposes and for irrigation, is struck at
depths varying
from 230 to 1,000 feet. Around Guildford alone, four or five bores
have been successfully sunk, the details of which are thus given in
the Western Australian Year Book, published by the Registrar
General :
"
The Woodbridge Estate bore, completed in 1896, depth 236ft.,
cost c418 discharges at the surface 150,000 gallons per day. The
;
Bebo Moro bore, 1896, put down to a depth of 308ft., cost 265;
yield, 86,000 gallons per day. The Waterhall Estate bore cost
*<474, depth 691ft., with a daily supply of 194,000 gallons.
The Lockeridge bore, at a depth of 798ft.," daily supply 123,000.
Guildford Municipal bore, 1,202ft., supply 1,000,000 gallons

24. 14
per diem. These figures are given to show that almost any-
where on the plains stretching between the hills and the sea
artesian water can be struck at a moderate cost, wherein the
not exceed 30ft. to 40ft.
height of the surface of the ground does
above the sea level."
In many cases, however, especially in those districts with a
scanty rainfall, more highly mineralised soil
and indiiferent drainage
facilities, the advisableiiess of using artesian water or any water at
all for the purpose of irrigation is one which should receive careful
consideration, as it is well known that under such conditions
irrigation almost invariably raises the salt line
to an extent which
may prove injurious to fruit trees.
SELECT VARIETIES OF FEUIT ACCORDING TO CLIMATE.
In broad lines, the* temperature and the rainfall of various
regions of the State have been rapidly mapped out. In every
respect they are shown to be favourable to the successful cultivation
of fruit trees, from tropical as well as from temperate climates.
The physical or the chemical characteristics of soils can be altered,
but the main features of climates are always the same, and cannot
be disregarded in the selection of crops. Thus, soil eminently
favourable for requirements of the grape vine may be met with in
Scotland, as well as in the most renowned districts of the south of
Europe yet malt liquors and whiskeys contribute to the wealth of
;
the Scotch farmers, and brandies and wines that of the vine- growers
of the sunny south.
But apart from the influence of latitude, altitude and aspect
also tend to modify climate. Snow is met with under the equator
on mountains of high altitude. According to the explorer Hum-
bolt, the thermometer falls one degree for every 340ft. of elevation ;
and under the influence of this law the climate is cooler, and
consequently fruits ripen later on the hills than they do in the low
land. An instance of this is afforded along the trunk railway line
running from the sea over the hills to the eastward. There we see
that under the influence of otherwise similar climatic conditions
the maturation of fruit crops and grapes is retarded by two or three
weeks on the Darling Eanges, at Mundaring or Chidlow's Well, at
an altitude of about 1,000ft. above the plains on the Swan.
If we proceed another 100 miles eastward, we notice that this
period of maturation of fruit is entirely reversed under the influence
of intervening causes.
At Tammin and Kellerberrin, for instance, with an altitude of
200ft. only less than at Mundaring or Chidlow's Well, and some
750ft. above the Swan, grapes and fruits come to a week
maturity
or two earlier than they do on the coast. There the retarding
influence of altitude is counterbalanced by the more active
light,
the lesser degree of air humidity, and probably
by the greater
degree of heat absorbed by the soil.

25. 15
Due consideration to local climatic conditions should, therefore,
influence fruit-growers in the selection of what to plant, with the
idea of avoiding a glutted market. Thus the settlers at a greater
altitude within the influence of the coastal climate should cater for
the later market, whereas those located further inland in the
brighter but drier regions will, with earlier varieties, have a good
hold of the early market. But here, again, other points have to be
considered, and good carrying capabilities must not entirely be
overlooked when seeking for earliness.
Aspect will also modify the climate to some extent. Many
tender plants will thrive in sheltered spots which would succumb to
exposure to the rigours of the climate only a short distance away.
Low lying damp hollows subject to late ground frosts often prove
fatal to potatoes or to those vines which break into leaf early in the
season, although these would have been quite safe on a warmer
slope only a stone's throw distant. Then again an eastern aspect,
other things being equal, will generally hasten the ripening of fruit
by several days. Clay bands or ridges of rocks running across a
field will, by throwing up the water, often modify the climatic con-
ditions either for good or evil within a row or two.
Exposure to winds, the colour and the texture of the soil, or in
other words, its power of absorbing and of retaining heat and
moisture are all factors which to some extent modify a local climate.
OUR SOILS.
Great stress has been laid on the merits of the climate
of the several districts of Western Australia capableof pro-
ducing fruit, but, before pronouncing on the suitability of any
given area, either for agricultural purposes, or more especially fruit
growing a branch of agriculture which is being more particularly
discussed in these pages the fact that the soil is in some measure
suitable for the purpose one has in view, must be ascertained.
In the pursuit of fruit-growing, soil must give precedence to
climate in as much as the first can, by means of judicious manuring
and cultivation, be made to lend itself to the special requirements
of the plant, whereas in the second instance, the welfare and pro-
ductiveness of the plant is mainly dependent upon the nature and
peculiarity of the climate.
It is a well-known fact that
soils are more or less suited to
different of trees, and it is one of the leading features of
sorts
Western Australia that the nature and character of the soil is
extremely variable the line of demarcation of one kind being in
;
many instances somewhat abrupt and sharp in its delimitation. On
closer examination, however, the soils which are met with in the
agricultural districts of this State belong to only a few well-defined
types. These are often intermixed together in various ways, and
cover, generally speaking, small areas only. Their recurrence at
frequent intervals, according to the contour of the locality, lends to
the country a motly appearance a characteristic which has been
;

26. 16
"
appropriately expressed by the word patchy," which applies more
or less to the whole of the territory figured on the map published
for the clearer understanding of the localities reviewed in these
pages. Most conspicuous amongst the soils of the South-West
Division of this State are the following :
IRONSTONE G-RAVEL.
With which the Darling Ranges are mostly covered, and which
shows on the surface. The soil consists of ferruginous claystones,
showing as coarse pea gravel, varying in size from that of shot to
that of marbles. In colour it varies from a light yellow to a dark
red, according to the amount of oxide of iron it contains. It is
generally mixed with a fertile ,loam, the result of its own disinte-
gration, and at places consolidates into a hard conglomerate which
would have to be rent asunder by the pick, or better still with the
use of cartridges of dynamite, before planting either trees or vines.
The soilwhen mixed with a fair proportion of loam is par
excellence the best suited for the production of a high-class wine ;
clean to the taste, rich in colour, and of pleasant bouquet. Fruit
trees generally do well on it. So far, owing to its gravelly appear-
ance, it has been condemned as poverty-stricken land while the;
cost of clearing it of the timber which grows on it has caused the
more timid-hearted settlers to disregard it in preference to more
fertile
looking soil carrying a class of timber which is more easily
burned.
This soil is healthy, warm, and well-drained, and the looseness
of the material it is made of favours the far-reaching propensities of
the roots of fruit trees in quest of food. The application of
phosphates and of potassic fertilisers are desirable on such soils,
if not at the outset and soon after
breaking up and planting, yet
after regular crops of fruit have been taken away.
In gullies and in favoured spots, a rich deposit of brown and
red loam, varying in depth from 6 to 24 inches, covers up this soil,
and wherever land of that description occurs, fruit trees or vines
will bear abundantly and thrive luxuriantly.
Underlying the ironstone gravel a white pipe-clay occurs, which,
according to locations, is found at a shallow depth underneath the
surface or at some considerable distance underground. The best
criterion of the proximity or predominence of these various soils is
offered by the indigenous trees which cover the stretch of country
where the soils just described show up more prominently, and that
country extends the whole length of the Darling Ranges, from the
latitude of Geraldton right down to the Blackwood. The gravelly
"
ironstone is generally identified with the name of " jarrah country
(Eucalyptus marginata, Smith). Wherever there is a certain depth
of brown loam on the surface, the jarrah is associated with the
native grass-tree or "blackboy" (Xanthorrhcea}, of which there
exists two distinct varieties. Pockets of deep loam amongst the
ironstone gravel are indicated by the presence of the red gum

27. 17
tree (E. calophylla, R. Brown). Wherever jarrah, red gum, and
blackboys grow together and attain large proportions, there the soil
is certain to be deep, well-drained, fertile, and suitable in every way
for the purpose of fruit and vine-growing. The " blackbutt "
(E. patens, Bentham) is at intervals met with on the moist slopes
of the Darling Ranges amongst these trees, and is indicative of one
of our most fertile class of soils, a free-working, gravelly loam. It
does not burn readily, hence the patches it covers having so long
been left in its virgin state. The occurrence of pipe-clay, either on
the surface or at a shallow depth, is, on the other hand, revealed by
the presence of white gum tree (JE. redunca, Schauer). White
gum alone is an indication of predominance of pipe-clay, or of a
cold, retentive porridge made up of pipe-clay and gritty sand, soft and
slushy in the winter months and hard in the dry summer season.
Small blackboys growing amongst white gums are an evidence of
the presence of this stratum of loam on the surface, and similarly
jarrah and white gum are indicative of a mixture of ironstone gravel
and pipe-clay. Lime and phosphates, associated with drainage, are
necessary for the raising of good crops on such soil.
Over the same area frequent outbursts of trap rock and vol-
canic dykes run through the country or occur in patches, and are
easily recognised by the occurrence of boulders of blue metal em-
bedded in a rich red loam of volcanic origin. Where such dykes
occur, or appear as if churned up with the ironstone gravel, trees
and all sorts of crops grow to great perfection, and oranges thrive
splendidly.
In the gullies alongside the brooks and around the springs, as
well as on low alluvial soil bordering water-courses, the Flooded
gums, often associated with blackboys, mark out fertile strips of
land, rich in potash, but which after a few years cropping require
the application of phosphates. In the South- West the Yate tree
(E. cornuta, La Billardiere) grows on such land.
Fresh water can be obtained almost anywhere on this forma-
tion at a depth of 12 35ft. on reaching the pipe-clay bottom,
whilst springs often break out on their own accord after ring-barking
the forest trees or clearing the land for cultivation.
CHOCOLATE SOIL.
" " " "
Known locally as the jam or wattle country. This kind
of soil is very widely distributed, and extends from the Murchison
and the Irwin over the Victoria Plains, up the Avon Valley to Wagin
and Katanning. It is overgrown at the north by the "
wattle,"
and southwards by the " raspberry jam tree," a kind of Myall
(Acacia acuminata, Bentham). On the whole, this belt of country
is drier than the
preceding one, but much easier to clear and to
cultivate, and eminently suitable for the cultivation of fruit-trees
and vines, as well as of cereal crops.
The soil consists of a chocolate loam, sometimes of great depth,
varying in texture from a heavy loam, characterised by a greater

28. 18
or smaller admixture of the "York guni" tree (E. loxophleba,
Bentham) to the wattle or jam tree. Such land makes splendid
corn land, and is more generally found on the slopes of the
undulating country which constitutes its home. On the flats the
soil is often of a lighter character, and there the wattle or the
jam bushes predominate. On the river banks and in patches over
the country, a lighter loam still is found and is generally over-
grown by the above-named trees, in company with the banksias, of
which there exists several varieties, and at times with the "sheaoaks"
(Casuarinas).
Considered on the whole, the chocolate loam or wattle and jam
or York gum land is one of the best balanced in the elements of plant
food in the South- West districts of the State, and were it not for,
in some seasons, a scanty rainfall, would carry enormous crops of
grain, hay, or fruit. Fields not long cleared and cultivated yield,
in average seasons, 16 26 bushels of wheat to the acre, and 30
40 cwts. of hay. Richer patches of land occur in this country,
where the "manna gum" tree grows (Acacia microbotrya) cele-
brated for its enormous yield of gum). Those patches are
generally of volcanic origin and of great fertility; blackboys of
very large size also grow on such soil. At places over that country
salt patches are not uncommon, and generally follow up the
clearing of the land. Their occurrence is more noticeable in what
would have been the most fertile land in the field, in hollows, or at
the base of sloping ground, where these salts accumulate, owing to
the leaching process after heavy rainfalls, as well as by the general
seepage of the more easily soluble alkali salts, notably those of
sodium.
SALT PATCHES.
Two sorts of salt patches occur in the drier regions of the State
:
the white patches caused by formation of crust or efflorescences on
the surface of the soil of salts, which present the appearance of
hoar frost on the ground. These salts mostly consist of common
salt (chloride of sodium), with chlorides and"
sulphates of calcium
and magnesium. Unless present in large quantities, these salts are
comparatively harmless.
The second, the black salt patches, are more injurious to vegeta-
tion, and in addition to common salt contains G-lauber's salt
(sulphate of soda), and with it a varying amount of a substance most
destructive to vegetable tissues, viz. carbonate of soda or sal.
:
soda. The presence of that salt is always indicated by the colour of
the soil in the black salt patches. The latter salt has, on the
tissues of plants, a corrosive action it dissolves the humus con-
;
tained in the soil, and thus gives it the characteristic black colour
often noticeable in such patches. The presence of this chemical
salt in the soils is absolutely detrimental to the
growth of roots of
the plant, whereas the salts found in the white
patches are only
injurious when their accumulation becomes excessive, especially at
the surface.

29. 19
The reclamation of salt patches for the purpose of bringing
them under cultivation rests upon three chief points :
1. Draining to carry away the excess of salt and preventing
fresh amounts being drawn up from the subsoil below.
This is the one efficacious and radical way of reclaim-
ing salt patches of any sort. The underdrainage in
deep hollows is not only often impracticable but is
generally costly. Besides, there is often found, in con-
junction with these noxious salts, other chemicals of high
fertilising value, such as sulphates, nitrates, phosphates
of potash and soda, which would run away to waste in
the drains and be lost to the soil. Should this be the
case, it would in many instances be advisable to alter the
poisonous substances in the soil and neutralise their
injurious effect, so as to place them beyond the means
of causing any injury, and this can be affected by
2. Neutralising the corrosive salts by means of chemicals
and changing their nature into that of the more
innocuous ones. To best effect this, some cheap sub-
stance, which by chemically reacting on the sodium
carbonate would transform it into an inactive salt, is
necessary, and is readily found in gypsum or sulphate
of lime, which by a mutual shuffling or interchange
of the basic and acidic elements, become respectively
carbonate of lime or limestone and sulphate of soda or
Glauber's salt. The gypsum, moreover, renders
insoluble the humus taken up and dissolved by the
carbonate of soda, and thus retains it in the soil.
3. The injurious substances having been neutralised, it is
essential to reduce the surface evaporation which
would tend to accumulate on the surface layers the
soluble salts sucked up by means of capillary attraction.
This is best effected by means of deep cultivation, fre-
quently repeated, and by growing crops which root
deeply and cover the ground, as well also as salt-loving
plants such as plants of the cabbage and of the beet
tribe or such plants as asparagus, saltbushes, and a
variety of others. By such means the successful and
profitable cultivation of the soil would, in mild cases,
be quite feasible.
Besides that of neutralising the injurious effects of the
carbonate of soda, gypsum has a correcting effect on the physical
conditions of the soil, which often becomes glutinous and forms a
clayey hardpan. It coagulates the glutinous substance formed by
the carbonate and destroys the puddled condition of the clay, thus
enabling the roots to penetrate and the waters to drain through
such soils.

30. 20
FOREST ALLUVIUM LAND.
Throughout the interior, from the Irwin towards the
Eastern G-oldfields railway line, and far beyond, stretches of country
occur which are now mostly under tall salmon gum trees (E.
salmonophloia, F. von Mueller). These stretches of country were
formed by running water wearing away the old rocks and carrying
the finer soil down in their course, and depositing it on the lower
level, where it forms extensive rich plains. They show as large
clay and loam flats, often many miles wide.
With the salmon gum is associated the gimlet wood or
fluted gum (E. salubris, F. von Mueller).
tree Both these
Eucalypti yield a large percentage (4 per cent.) of excellent oil on
distillation of the leaves, and it would seem that the dropping of
the leaves and bark on the surface of the soil has a deadly action
on the natural herbage. Soon after the trees are destroyed, either
by ring-barking or sapping, the natural grasses grow plentifully, and
all thiscountry, which until recently was reputed barren, has since
been proved to constitute, when cleared, ploughed up, and brought
under cultivation, corn land of great value.
Wherever on these forest lands a few Morrell gum trees occur
there the soil is richer still, and the ears of corn
(JE. longirostris) ,
crops fill well and weigh heavy, as is the case when the land has
been liberally dressed with phosphatic fertilisers. These soils would
be benefited by green manuring, which would considerably add to
their store of humus. This formation rests on marl and limestone.
All these trees burn readily, and on this account the cost of clearing
is much reduced. As these lands occur in a somewhat arid zone of
country, their true value has for a long time been overlooked. By
means of water conservation in clay tanks, and after ring-barking,
the look of that country soon improves, and luxuriant grasses
spring up, which turn the drought stricken looking forest land into
nourishing pastures.
SANDY SOILS.
Interspersed more or less over the several formations above
described, and especially in the intervening lower ground between
the foot of the ranges and the sea, are
patches of soil varying from
a coloured sandy loam to a pure white sand. That country supports
shrubs of different sorts of banksias, and in where it is not
places,
very deep, either white or red gums, with at times blackboys, and
also near the coast the Willow
Myrtle or Peppermint tree (Agonis
flexuosa, de Candolle), and on limestone coast hills eastward of
the Darling Range the tooart (E.
gomphocephala, de Candolle).
Little hope, of course, exists of ever
cultivating with profit the
patches of pure sand scattered over the country, but in many places
the soil assumes a darker colour,
varying from orange to dark grey,
and wherever limestone or a loamy subsoil
underlays the sand at'a
small depth there vines and stone-fruit trees
grow with great
luxuriance.

31. 21
Many swamps occur through these sandy patches where rushes,
"
the " Paper bark (Melaleuca leucadendron, Linne), and ti- trees
abound. These swamps can be easily drained, and when thus
reclaimed can be turned into market gardens of marvellous fertility.
In many instances, especially along the coast, the soil is made of an
accumulation of silt, mud, and vegetable detritus, which settling in
the water collected in basins bottomed by calcareous hardpans, form
a rich black mould.
These hardpans consist of a conglomerate of greyish mud in
which are thickly embedded fragments of sea shells, and which
after being subjected to the process of weathering, crumble down
readily and assume the normal condition of a soil rich in lime,
phosphates, potash, and organic matter. These hardpans prevent
the penetration into the deeper soil of roots as well as of water, and
their breaking up previous to the cultivation of those marshes is of
primary necessity. Whenever they are met with at a small depth
the pick or the crowbar readily breaks them up into cakes or slabs,
but should they be found at a greater depth, one of the readiest
and at the same time cheapest ways of breaking them up is by means
of small charges of dynamite, which so shatter and crack the
hardpan that not only can roots penetrate through the clefts, but
the stagnant water also sinks by gravitation, and the land is
generally drained to such an extent that it gradually softens and
crumbles down until ultimately the hardpan completely disappears.
Should fruit trees have already been anywhere planted without the
precaution of breaking up this hardpan having already been taken,
the trees are sure sooner or later, whenever their roots reach the
retentive hardpan, to languish and flag; in such cases small
dynamite cartridges exploded on each side of the tree in the winter
time when it is dormant will, without injuring the tree, remove the
obstruction and bring relief.
As can reasonably be expected, the frequent application of
fertilisers will be necessary for the production of heavy crops in
sandy soils. Generally speaking, the lack of potash is the weakest
point of such soil, and wherever the reefs of coral limestone met with
in the neighbourhood of the coast are not present, phosphates will be
required, while nitrogenous fertilisers, and preferably those of a
less readily soluble kind, will likewise be necessary. On such soil
the process of adding to its fertility by means of green manuring
the ploughing in of some quick-growing green crops is much to be
recommended.
By their intermixing in variable proportions, these several typical
soils ofthe South -West division of Western Australia give rise to
a greater variety of soils, some of which, like those of a sedimentary
nature, occur along the course of existing or old river beds, and are
usually deep, well drained, very productive, and by reason of their
generally well sheltered situations, eminently well adapted for the
purpose of fruit growing.

32. 99
KING-BARKING AND CLEARING LAND.
Mr. L. Lindley-Cowen, late secretary of the then Bureau, now
Department of Agriculture, thus summarises in this chapter the
practise and the opinion of experienced settlers from various parts
of the agricultural districts of this State: "To new comers
unacquainted with the readiest methods of converting bush land
into fruitful farms and orchards, much valuable information will be
gathered from the teachings of others."
Following are the common and botanical names of the trees
referred to in the returns on ring-barking reviewed below :
Jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata, Smith)
Red Gum (E. calophylla, E. Brownl
"
Flooded or " Blue Gum (E. salinga, Smith)
White Gum (E. redunca, Schauer)
Peppermint (Agonis flexuosa, de Candolle)
Yate (E. cornuta, La Billardiere)
Sheaoak Casuarina Fraseriana, Miguel)
(
Paper bark (Melaleuca sp.)
York Gum (E. loxophleba, Bentham)
Jam (Acacia acuminata, Bentham)
Manna Gum (E. Viminalis, La Billardiere)
Salmon Gum (E. salmonophloia, F. von Mueller)
Morell, or Parker's Gum, or Mallee of Victoria (E. olesoa, F.
von Mueller)
Mallet, or Fluted Gum, or Gimlet Wood (E. salubris F von
Mueller)
Blackboy (Xanthorrhcea)
Wattle (Acacia leiophylla, Bentham)
Badjong- ( A. microbotyra, Bentham)
Karri (E. diversicolor, F. von Mueller)
Spearwood (E. Doratoxylon, F. von Mueller)
Tooart (E. gomphocephala, de Candolle)
Blackbutt (E. patens, Bentham)
Zamia (Cycas Sp.)
The object of ring-barking or of
sap-ringing isto kill the trees,
in order that the pasture and water be improved, and
supply may
to facilitate clearing in the future.
Trees are destroyed by when a belt of bark
ring-barking
about a foot in width
is taken off the stem,
whilst sap-ringing con-
sists in cutting into
the sap or outer wood
of the tree as well as
taking off the bark.
The illustration here-
with shows the different
methods, and on per-
usal of the following
pages it will be found
which varieties of trees,
in the opinion of old
colonists in various
districts, should be ring-barked and which sap-ringed.

33. 23
When setting about ring- barking and clearing, a few trees
should be left
standing. Shade is quite as grateful in the hot
summer months to stock as feed.
SOUTH-WESTERN DISTRICT.
Varieties Jarrah, red gum, flooded gum, banksia,
of Trees.
white gum, blue gum, peppermint, yate, blackbutt.
Method and Time of Destruction. Great diversity of opinion
exists apparently, both as to the method of killing the trees,
whether by ring- barking or sap-ringing, and also as to the period of
the year during which the work should be done. There is, however,
a unanimous opinion that jarrah, red gum, banksia, and blackbutt
should be. destroyed by ring-barking, and yate, peppermint, and
flooded gum by sap-ringing. In the case of blue gums the
advocates of sapping and ring- barking are equally divided, while in
the case of white gums the advocates of ring-barking are in a large
majority. One correspondent does not enumerate the trees in his
locality (Bridgetown), but advises "all to sap when the trees are in
flower;" while another correspondent would "advise all newcomers
to adopt ring-barking."
In regard to the time of the year when the ring-barking or
sapping should be done, there is a wide range of opinion. All the
months in the year are recommended, except April, May, and June.
There is a slight preponderance of opinion in favour of ring-
barking the trees from October to February. One correspondent
at Jayes reports having killed jarrah and white gum in three days
by ring-barking in February. July to October appears to be the
best period for destroying the red gum. January. February, and
March for the blue gum, white gum, flooded gum, peppermint,
yate, and black-butt. All, with one exception, agree that the
banksia may be killed by ring-barking at any period of the year,
the dissentient being in favour of the months of January, February,
and March.
Referring to jarrah, red gum, and blackbutt, Mr. J. Forster
Johnston, of Leschenault, writes : "I have had over 1,000 acres
ring-barked on my Preston property in different months, varying
from March to November, and found it all effective." Referring
to the "Leschenault blue gums," the same writer says :"These
trees I find very difficult to kill. Some few will die right out and
others live for years." Mr. Andrew Muir, of Lake Muir, writes :
"
I find the best time to ring-bark in our district is in the months of
September, October, and the early part of November, for jarrah,
red gum, and blackbutt. Yate requires ringing in January, as if
rung at that time it will die in a few days, and will not throw up
suckers, which it will do if rung in the winter months
White gum you can ring at any time when the bark strips freely ;
in fact, it is no use ringing any tree if it will not bark freely."
Mr. J. P. 0. Wellard, of Mornington, writes "
In ring-
:
barking I have found the months named (January, February, and

34. 24
March) the best for my land. The trees take longer to die, but
they do not throw out any suckers. I think it will be found very
hard to lay down any hard and fast rules about ringing, as it will
be found not only to Vary in different districts, but also in the same
districts as to the best time of the year."
" What is
Blaclcboys. Mr. Wellard continues : almost as
necessary as ringing the timber here in the hills is having the
blackboys cut down. I have had some land chopped and find the
stock niuch prefer the cleared land to that where the blackboys
are still growing in the same paddock. Price for chopping the
blackboys about 2s. per acre." On this subject Mr. J. Forster
" I have 100 acres at the Preston ... so thick
Johnston writes :
with blackboys that I have known a stockman to ride three times
round the block before he could find a beast in it, so I determined
to have the blackboys chopped off. I let 50 acres to an old man at
2s. 6d. per acre . .and on settling up he was so satisfied
.
that he walked back 40 miles to do the other 50 and had a nice
cheque to take. My neighbours laughed at me for doing this,
saying it was money thrown away, but I see now a good many of
them are following my example. You can now see nearly all over
the paddock, and there is a good swath of English grasses growing
in a large portion of it." The Preston progress Association
"
reports that chopping down blackboys greatly improves the
carrying capabilities of the land."
Effect of the destruction of trees upon the water supply and growth
of grasses. There is a decided unanimity of opinion that the killing
of the timber increases the water supply in all the localities from
which correspondents have replied, but apparently more so in some
localitiesthan others. The increase in the water supply is pro-
bably governed by the diversity of the timber and the geological
formation of the ground, and thus the slight difference in opinion
may be accounted for. With one exception, that of the Ferguson
Farmers' Association who report that "the natural grasses die
out" after ring-barking, there is a decided unanimity of opinion
that the destruction of the timber is followed by a marked increase
in the stock carrying capacity of the land. So unanimous is this
opinion that one is led to believe that the exception referred to
above has been caused, perhaps, not by ring-barking, but by the
young and finer grasses which the destruction of the timber had
induced to grow being fed out by overstocking. In fern (bracken)
country ring-barking appears to be of doubtful benefit. Mr.
Andrew Muir, Lake Muir, writes "
: From my own experience I
should say that ring-barking improves all lands where there are
no ferns but in fern country the killing of the timber stimulates
;
the growth of the ferns to such an extent that they completely
choke out the grasses in a few years."
Cost per acre of ring-barking and sapping. The highest price
paid for ring-barking is, according to the returns, 2s. 6d. per acre,
the lowest Is., the average price per acre being Is. 9|d. The

35. 25
highest price for sap-ringing is given at 4s. 6d. per acre, the lowest
at Is. 6d., the average per acre being 2s. 9d.
Cost per acre of clearing before and after the destruction of the
trees. In nearly all cases the returns show that the cost of clearing
the land ready for the plough is reduced to one-half after the
timber has been killed by ring-barking or sapping. The highest
price for clearing is returned by the Ferguson Farmer's Associa-
tion at 20 to 25 per acre before ring-barking and =10 to ,12
per acre after the timber is dead. Mr. Andrew Muir returns the
cost of clearing at 15 per acre before, and 12 per acre after
ring-barking in his district. Nearly all the other returns give the
cost at 10 to 12 per acre before ring-barking, and <5 to =7
after. Omitting the two returns mentioned above, those of the
Ferguson Farmers' Association and Mr. Muir, the average cost of
clearing over the whole area covered by the returns, is before ring-
barking, 9 14s. per acre, after ring-barking, <5 10s. 6d. per acre.
MURRAY DISTRICT.
of Timber.
Varieties Jarrah, red gum, blue gum, banksia,
sheaoak, paper bark, wild pear tree.
Method and time of destruction. Jarrah, ring-barking. Red
gum, Mr. Richardson recommends ring-barking, while the Murray
Horticultural Society recommends sapping. Blue gum, sheaoak,
paper bark, wild pear, sapping banksia, ring-barking.
;
August December for all trees except banksia, which may
to
be rung at any time, and paper bark and wild pear, the best period
" The
for ringing these being returned as doubtful. blue gum can
be killed at any time of the year within 24 hours if it is properly
"
sapped according to the Murray Horticultural Society's return.
The honorary secretary of this society, in returning the form
"
writes : It is the general opinion here that ring-barking and
sapping tends io toughen the roots of the trees, making the trees
harder to pull up for some time after, so if you cannot afford to
wait for two or three years to allow the roots to rot it is a better
plan to pull up the trees green, as the heavy tops help to bring
them down. But having waited the time mentioned, the clearing
of land is made all the easier, as the trees come down willingly."
Effect of the destruction of the trees upon the water supply and
growth of native grasses. There is a very decided opinion expressed
in both returns that the destruction of the timber largely increases
both the water supply and feed.
Cost per acre of ring-barking and sapping. From Is. to 2s.
for ring-barking, according to the quantity of timber. From 2s. to
3s. for sapping.
Cost per acre for clearing before and after the destruction of the
trees. The returns show the cost of clearing to be reduced to one-
half after the timber is dead. Before ring-barking the cost is set
down by the Murray society at from 3 to 5 per acre, and by Mr.

36. 26
Eichardson at from =4 to ,15 per acre. After ring-barking from
2 10s. to 8 per acre.
GREAT SOUTHERN RAILWAY DISTRICT.
Varieties of Trees. "White gum, York gum, jarrah, jam,
sheaoak, stinkwood, manna gum, flooded gum, red gum, yate,
salmon gum, Parker's gum or morrell, mallet or fluted gum.
Method and time of destruction. In three of the returns
sapping is recommended for all the trees mentioned above with
the exception of the salmon gum, which one correspondent advises
should be ring-barked. York gum and flooded gum are liable to
throw up suckers, it is said, in another return. " Sap ringing is
desirable in each case for immediate results, but ring-barking is
preferable one can afford to wait the results for say four years."
if
Wagin- Arthur Farmers' Alliance. The Ka tanning Farmers'
Association advocates destroying the white gum and jarrah either
by ring-barking or burning around the butts; and ring-barking,
jam, sheaoak, and manna gum, and sapping York and flooded gums.
Stinkwood if cut down dies out. York gum and jam should be
rung when the sap is well up. The bark will then fall off every
limb and the roots can be burnt right out. Flooded guin is very
difficult to kill. Firing round the trunk in the month of March
very often has the desired effect. Two correspondents state their
experience has shown that ring-barking and sapping may be
carried on all the year round with successful results if the work is
properly performed. The Wagin-Arthur Farmers' Alliance
advises that the work should be done during December, January,
and February, while the Katanning Farmers' Association advocates
ring-barking or sapping, as the case may be, in September and
October, for all trees except manna gum the period for this variety
;
being extended from September to March. Sheaoak may be treated
at any time.
Effect of the destruction of timber on the water supply and growth
of grasses. All the correspondents are of the unanimous opinion
that the destruction of the timber improves very materially both
the water supply and the stock-carrying capacity of the land. The
Katanning Farmers' Association, however, makes a reservation in
favour of the retention of jam trees " Jam is the only tree which
does not injure the grass to any extent. When all the trees are
destroyed, the sun has more power over the grasses, which quickly
dry up. In the middle of the summer, the grass is often found to
be green and succulent under the shade of the jam trees when it is
dried up elsewhere. . Stock eat the leaves of the stinkwood
. .
and young sheaoak s."
Cost per acre of ring-barking or sapping. In two returns from
the Wagin district the cost of sapping is put down at Is. less per
acre than that of ring-barking the prices being 2s. to 3s. per acre
:
respectively. In the other returns, the cost of ring-barking is from
9d. to Is. 6d. per acre, and of sapping from Is. 9d. to 2s. per acre.

37. 27
The average cost per acre, taking all the returns into consideration,
for ring-barking and sapping, Is. IHd.
is 2s. Id.,
Cost per acre of clearing before and after destruction of the trees.
The Wagin- Arthur Farmers' Alliance return puts the cost of
clearing, both before and after the destruction of the timber, at 3
10s. per acre. The other returns show that the cost of clearing,
after the timber has been killed by ring-barking or sapping, is
reduced fully one-half. The Broome Hill Agricultural Society's
return put the cost of clearing prior to ring-barking at ,3 per
acre, and after the timber is dead, at 1 10s. per acre. In the
Katanning return the figures are <3 and 2 per acre respectively.
YORK DISTRICT.
Varieties of Trees. York gum, white gum, salmon gum, jam,
blue bush, native cassia, manna gum, morrell gum, flooded gum,
sheaoak.
Method and time of destruction. The Beverley branch advises
ring-barking all the eucalypti, while the York branch advocates
sapping without any reservation. The Greenhills Progress
Association advises that old York gum trees should be sap-ringed,
and that young ones should be ring-barked that white gum,
;
salmon gum, cassia, and jam, should be sap-ringed, and that the
blue bush should be cut down. It will thus be seen there is a
preponderance of opinion in favour of sap-ringing.
From January to April is the opinion of the York and Beverley
branches for ring-barking or sapping all trees, while the Greenhills
Association advises November to April for ring-barking York gum,
and May to October for sapping this tree. November to May is the
"
period "advised for destroying white gum and cassia, and any
month for the remaining trees.
Mr. W. Padbury filled in a return embracing his experience in
the Eastern Districts, the Victoria Plains, and at Yatheroo. His
remarks may be inserted here. He says "
: I would not cut
through the sap of trees on land I wanted to cultivate as when the
;
tree is dead and the tree-puller is put on to it, if it has been cut
through the sap, it is liable to break off and leave the stump in the
ground. I prefer using the tree-puller in clearing, to the ordinary
grubbing, as it pulls more roots clean out, and in ploughing after-
wards you do not find so many obstructions. For red gums, white
gums, salmon gums, and York gums, I find sapping the best, and
the time I do it is as soon as the bark will run after the first
winter rains until the sap goes down again. With flooded gums I
find you must cut through the sap, as
they will not die otherwise.
My experience is that trees that have been sap-ringed do not
generally throw out so many suckers. Some trees take two or three
years to die, according to the nature of the tree and the land on
which it grows. I think when the sap is well up, say September,
October, and November, is the best time for ring-barking, as the
tree dies more quickly if the work is done at this time."

38. 28
the water supply and
Effect of the destruction of tke trees upon
growth of native grasses. There is an unanimous opinion expressed
that a most marked increase takes place in both the water supply
and the number and vitality of the native grasses that spring up
after the trees have been destroyed.
Cost per acre of 'ring-barking or sapping. From Is. 3d. to
2s. 6d. per acre are the prices given for ring-barking, and Is. 7d. to
2s. 6d. for sapping. The York branch puts down the first cost of
sapping at Is. 3d. to Is. 9cl. per acre, and second cost 4-d. to 6d. per
acre for killing suckers.
Cost per acre of clearing before and after the destruction of the
trees. The cost of clearing for the plough after the country has
been ring-barked from two to three years, is in all cases estimated
at half that of clearing prior to ring-barking. The average cost of
clearing when the trees are green is, for the district, 2 15s. per
acre, and half this sum per acre when the trees are dead.
NORTHAM DISTRICT.
York gum, jam, morrell, white gum, gimlet
Varieties of Trees.
wood, salmon gum, manna gum, wattles, sheaoaks, flooded gum.
Method and time of destruction. Mr. Gregory advises ringing
salmon and flooded gums, sheaoak, and jam, and sapping white and
York gums. This, in the main, is also the advice of the Irishtown
branch, while Mr. Throssell advises sapping all the trees except the
jam, which should be rung. Mr. Dempster furnishes an interest-
"
ing note on the destruction of the York gum. He writes : All
trees or scrub can be killed at once by sap-ringing, but the York
gums throw out shoots for years after the top of the tree has been
killed, and the cost of keeping under the suckers is more than that
of ringing in the first instance. I have not yet met anyone who can
speak positively as to the best time of the year for ringing these
trees. Occasionally some die, and give no further trouble, but as a
rule they will not, under the present system. Killing the tree slowly
by barking, I think, is the most effectual. I have an idea, supported
by facts, that goes to prove that by killing the tree slowly the
strength returns to the soil, for the best results I have ever seen
from ringing have been by the slow progress."
Mr. Dempster and Mr. Throssell have apparently succeeded in
killing the other trees
by either ring-barking or sapping all the year
round, but they both evidently incline to doing the work in the
summer. The former says " I rather think that the summer ring-
:
barking is best for York gums and large trees of the same class."
Mr. Throssell writes " I have not arrived at any conclusion, as I
:
have succeeded in the matter of effectually killing the gums by
ring-barking during all the months of the year. I prefer summer
for either sapping or ring-barking. In the latter the process is
slower, but more effective." The Irishtown branch advise that the
work should be done between November and March, while Mr.
Gregory favours January and February for York and white gums,
and September and October for the others.

39. 29
upon the water supply and growth of
Effect of destruction of trees
grasses. There is a decided consensus of opinion that the destruc-
tion of timber improves both the water supply and the growth of
the native grasses. Mr. Throssell writes in reference to the latter :
"
Especially is this noticeable on the salmon gum country, which,
prior to killing the timber, is devoid of herbage. The effect is
marvellous, as different species of grasses put in an appearance the
first winter after the timber has been ring-barked, and grow
luxuriantly. Owing to this 'discovery' the salmon gum country is
coming into great favour."
Cost per acre of ring-barking and sapping. From Is. 3d. to
Is. 9d. for ring-barking, and Is. 6d. to 2s. for sapping.
Cost per acre of clearing before and after the destruction of the
trees. The highest price quoted for clearing before the timber has
been destroyed is <3, and the lowest 2 per acre. The highest
quotations given for clearing after the timber is dead is 2 10s.,
and the lowest <! 10s. per acre. The average per acre of the
returns is, before ring-barking, <2 14s. after the timber is dead,
;
"
1 17s. 6d. Mr. Throssell writes Referring to the value of
:
killing timber as a preparatory measure to clearing for agriculture,
it requires to be explained that in setting down the saving at only
10s. per acre, that I refer to landowners who let out their clearing
by contract at so much per acre. But for the farmer who
thoroughly ring-barks or kills off the timber some years before
clearing, and then clears his land with his own or monthly hired
labour, under his own supervision, the saving, I am confident, would
be fully one-half."
TOODYAY DISTRICT.
Varieties of Trees. White gum, jam, York gum, red gum.
Method and time of destruction. White gum, r ing- barking ;
York gum, ring- barking or sapping jam, sapping red gum, not
; ;
stated.
White gum should be destroyed from September to October ;
York gum, February to March jam, at any time red gum, not
; ;
The secretary adds in a note " The
stated. branch is of an
:
opinion that the red gum should never be interfered with on the
pastoral lands, as these trees do not do any harm to the feed and
are invaluable as shade."
Effect of the destruction of trees
upon and the
the water supply
growth of native grasses. The destruction most
of the timber has a
beneficial effect in increasing the water supply and the growth of
the native grasses.
Cost per acre of ring Is. to Is. 6d. per acre
-barking or sapping.
for either operation.
Cost per acre of clearing
before and after the destruction of the
timber. Before, =3; after, 2 10s. to 2 15s. The secretary
"
writes as follows :For agricultural purposes, the branch is of the

40. 30
opinion that grubbing when the timber is green is preferable t
killing the timber by ring-barking or sapping before clearing. Tb
cost per acre of clearing after ring-barking is from 5s. to 10s. less
but this is from two to three years after the ring- barking has beei
done."
G-ERALDTON DISTRICT.
Varieties of Trees. Wattles, York gum, jam, flooded gum.
Method and time of destruction. Wattles, York gum, and jam
by ring-barking flooded gum by sapping.
;
November or December when the sap is down, is returned ai
the best time for destroying the trees.
Effect of the destruction oj trees upon the water supply and growt)
of native grasses. The effect is very great upon the water supply
Even within six months after ringing, the supply gets stronger
the grass grows thicker and is appreciated more by stock.
Cost per acre of ring-barking or sapping. Eing-barking abou
-
5s. per acre. Price for sapping not stated.
Cost per acre of clearing before and after the destruction of th(
trees. Before ring-barking 5 per acre (wheat lands). After th<
timber has been killed =3 per acre.
Note. Mr. McKenzie Grant, Newmarracarra, writes: "Ring
barking I find is only the beginning of clearing the land, as th(
saplings and young shoots keep springing up, and have to be grubbec
out year after year."
CLEARING ;
HOW TO DO IT, AND HOW NOT TO DO IT.
The removalof timber from virgin land preparatory to plough'
"
ing, is known in Australia as grubbing and clearing." The cosl
of doing this work, of course, varies very greatly, as will have beer
gathered from the earlier chapters which give the average price oJ
clearing in the various localities described. The chief factor in th(
cost of clearing is the quantity of timber that has to be removed
and there are also subsidiary causes which regulate the price a1
which the work can be done, as, for instance, the nature of the soil
the time of the year at which the work is carried on, the variety oi
timber, the proximity to the labour market, and the mechanicaraids
that may be employed. Taking all these things into consideration
and speaking generally, the spring and early summer are the besl
periods of the year in which to do this work. If the land is clay, o:
at all inclined to be stiff, it will have been well soaked
by the wintei
rains, and be easier to remove from around the roots of the trees
Land cleared in the spring and ploughed the same season is less
prone to throw up suckers from the fragments of roots that an
bound to be left on the ground, no matter how carefully the work is
done, than land cleared or ploughed in the autumn or winter
Another advantage of clearing in spring and early summer is thai
the rains are less frequent and the timber has a better chance oi

41. 31
burning. Light sandy soil covered with banksia and other woods
that burn readily, may be cleared at any time of the year. The
new settler may think that anyone who has sufficient strength can
do grubbing and clearing as well as the next one. This is a great
mistake. One cannot exalt clearing into an art or a science, but
there is a knack in doing the work that, simple as it looks, requires
a good deal of practice before one can become master of it. So
much is this the case that if the inexperienced settler has the money
at his command, my advice to him is to get this most laborious
work done by contract.
he has not, and is compelled to do the work himself, the
If
hints conveyed in the following notes may be of use to him. If I
now give, in skeleton form, the outline of a specification for clearing,
it will, I think, with a little explanation, convey to the mind of the
new settler the chief features of the work that has to be done, and
the proper way in which it should be performed :
1. All trees to be grubbed completely round and out to
a depth of not less than 18 inches, and all roots to be
run to the same depth, or until they can be broken by
the hand.
2. All underground blackboys to be grubbed out below
the crown.
3. All zamia palms to be grubbed and completely removed
from the ground.
4. All scrub large enough to impede the progress of the
plough, or that cannot be completely turned in in
ploughing, to be grubbed out.
5. The timber and scrub, after having been grubbed, to be
burnt, and the ashes spread as far as they can be cast.
6. All wood not absolutely required for burning the butts
and stumps of trees, to be left on the ground.
7. No holes to be filled in until they have been examined by
or his agent when passed, to be filled in three
;
inches above the level of the surrounding ground.
8. The whole of the ground to be left ready for the plough,
and the contract to be completed in a workmanlike
manner on or before
9. If the contract is not
completed on or before the date
abovementioned a penalty of shillings per day
for every day over the specified time, to be paid by the
contractors, and deducted from any money that may be
due to them.
Such is the rough framework of a specification for a grubbing
and clearing contract. The first clause is self-explanatory. The
second and third clauses refer only to that part of the country
where zamia palms and underground blackboys are to be found.
The latter, if not grubbed well below the crown, that is, where the
leaves shoot from the bole, will continue to
spring up perennially.

42. 32
Clauses 4 and 5 need 110 explanation, unless it is to say that, the
reason for having the ashes spread is that they are a most valuable
potash manure, and should be made as much use of, and spread over
as large a surface of ground as possible. Clause 6 is inserted at
discretion. If work is very plentiful, and the settler has a large
area, it may be omitted ;
but if the area is 100 acres or less, the
economy of firewood cannot, begin too soon. It may appear to the
settler that there is plenty of wood for all the world, and for ever ;
but even if there was, there is no sense in wasting it. There is no
sense in wasting anything, so far as my experience goes. But, as a
matter of fact, it does not take very long, if clearing is vigorously
pursued, to exhaust the wood supplies on a 100-acre farm for it ;
must be borne in mind that, even with the most careful management,
about 80 per cent, of what would otherwise be available for firewood
has to be used in burning the trunks and butts of trees that cannot
be utilised.
It is important that no holes should be filled until they have
been examined for roots, and when they are filled in they should be
heaped up a little, in order to allow for the settling down of the
loose soil that must eventually take place. It is for the person
letting the contract to say whether he will supply tree pullers, tools,
explosives, and rations. As a rule, the contractors supply them-
selves with all these things, and it is better, as it saves possible
complications, that they should.
Before going any further, I should like to impress upon the
minds of not only new settlers, but old settlers also, the desirable-
ness of having all contracts made in writing. Memory is so apt to
play us false black and white, never. The risks to both sides of
;
acting upon a verbal agreement are infinitely greater than com miting
oneself to any serious error in signing a written contract that- has
been mutually agreed upon.
To return to clearing, and the new and inexperienced settler
who has, perforce, to undertake the work himself.
On clearing the lighter soils, which generally, in this State,
mean lighter and easily removed timber, there is very little to be
said. Common sense in this, as in everything else, must be the
settler's best guide. It may be that it will be considered desirable,
the first year, to leave all the large timber standing, in which case
it should be ring-barked at once, no matter what time of the
year
and grub out only the small stuff, say 12 inches in diameter "and
under. If the large trees are not too thick, this can be done
with advantage, and the ground can be ploughed " scruffed up "
is the better expression, as it is
hardly ploughing, under the cir-
cumstanceswith a stump-jump plough. This plough, as its
name implies, is constructed in such a manner as to permit
ground of the very roughest kind being worked. If an obstacle
which cannot be cut through is encountered by the share,
the movable beam is raised by the tractive force, and, after the
obstacle is passed, the share falls into the land
again and recom-

43. 33
mences work. The stump-jump plough is, however, an expensive
item a double-furrow costing about =17, and a treble-furrow
23 the small settler will be hardly able to afford, and unless he
can get the work done by contract, an ordinary single-furrow plough
will have to be called into requisition. Ploughing only partially
cleared land with a single-furrow rigid plough is a most exhilarat-
ing, but not altogether satisfactory, operation,
but still it can be
done with a little care and without damaging the implement. If
the land is to be cleared outright at once, which is by far the best
way, if time and means permit, the settler must gird up his
loins and make up his mind to tackle the job bravely. If a
big tree has to be got out, it is no use playing round the
THE
WRONG
WAY
roots. Dig the soil away well round the tree, so that you
have plenty of room to work. There is nothing gained by chopping
off the roots close by the trunk, for you must remember that every
root has to be traced until it is well out of the way of the plough that
is to follow clearing. Again, the tap root has to be got at, and this
cannot be done unless you give yourself ample room to work round and
under the tree. If the tree has plenty of top, when the main lateral
roots are cut, in all probability it will fall but if there is little or no
;
top, then either the tap root will have to be cut, or the agency of fire
will have to be invoked. Don't be too ready with the fire stick.
Grub well round the tree to the full depth before you think of start-
ing the fire. Once you have started your fire, do not think of
letting it go out. Clearing is not eight-hours-a-day work. Last
thing at night and first thing in the morning the fires have to be
gone round and put together. A sapling from six to seven feet
long is used as a lever for putting the logs together whilst burning.
A second and more expeditious method of clearing is by means
of a tree-puller or " forest devil." Several of these machines, both
for horse and man power, have been invented and perfected in this
State, and will be found satisfactory in every way. Where clearing